The Beauty of Imperfection

Chapter One

Before I arrived at the gates of Konoha, I stumbled upon a situation.

A girl was holding her hands up in the air, looking terrified as a man with a scimitar demanded her pack. She looked to be around fifteen years old, and was clutching the pack and begging the man to leave.

I walk up slowly, observing the situation. "What seems to be going on, here?" I ask quietly.

The man startles, then turns the sword towards me. "You too!" he shouts. "Give me everything you own!"

"Please," the girl begs. "My mother is sick. We can't afford to lose anything!"

"I don't care!" the man snaps. "Now give me everything!"

"Help me!" the girl begs me.

The criminal snorts. "What can some girl do? She's as helpless as you are--"

He freezes as I level a glare towards him. I make a single handsign and the man froze. Then he began to scream. I stalk towards him slowly, taking my time and never releasing the hand sign. "I am not helpless," I murmur calmly over his screams. "I am far more than 'some girl'. You wan't to know what I can do?" I force more chakra into the jutsu, using my will to control the genjutsu. "This is what I can do."

The man suddenly gives a strange half cough, half retch, and blood spews from his mouth. It didn't matter that this was simply a genjutsu. All it took was the mind believing in it. The mind was powerful. What it believed was powerful.

And right now it believed that this man had just been stabbed in the stomach by twenty kunai.

The criminal collapsed.Unaffected, I watched calmly as he slumps over, unconscious. I then turn back towards the girl. She flinches back, clearly frightened by me. Her mouth opens and closes several times, but no words come out. I walk closer to her, and she takes a half step back.

Regarding her for a moment, I finally open my mouth and utter two words before continuing on my way.

"You're weak."

It disgusted me. She hadn't attempted to fight back. She hadn't decided to give up everything she was carrying. She hadn't run. Instead she had stood there, indecisive as she begged for mercy.

She reminded me of me.

And I hated her for it.

***

I didn't know what to do now that I was back.

I had shown the gatekeepers my I.D and been allowed in, and now I was standing just inside the gates, unsure of what to do. Instinctively I had take several steps in the direction of my parents house before realizing that that was the last place I wanted to return to. Despite knowing konoha like the back of my hand, I felt lost.

"F...Fuzen?!"

I turn slightly, and immediately spotted Mizu's shock of blue hair. I gazed at him for a long moment before a smile crossed my face, the feeling unfamiliar.

"Fuzen! It is you!" He walked over to me quickly, grocery bags swinging from his hands. I had to make sure not to stare at the scar on his face. He hadn't ever told me exactly how he got it, but I suspect that he had told Shun. "Just wait until Shun sees you! Fuzen--Fuzen?"

"Hm? Oh, yes. Yes, hi. Where is he?" I ask.

I see the slightest falter in Mizu's smile. "O-Oh. Shun's back at the shop. Walking all the way to the market and back and carrying groceries... Is a bit much for him... For his leg."

"Run," Sensei urged us. "Faster, faster! Remember my training! Use your chakra!" We push ourselves, Sensei taking up the rear to protect us.